“Top Gun: Maverick” breakout and rising star Glen Powell is set to lead a “Heaven Can Wait” reimagining, which is in early development at Paramount, according to an insider with knowledge of the project.
Stephen Gaghan, who won the Oscar for writing 2000’s “Traffic,” is writing the script.
The 1978 film “Heaven Can Wait” was based on a play of the same name by Harry Segall. Warren Beatty starred in the original movie, which received nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. It won the Oscar for Best Art Direction.
In the film, Beatty starred as an NFL quarterback who died too soon because of an overeager angel and came back to life in the body of a dead millionaire. Beatty directed the movie with Buck Henry and cowrote the screenplay with Elaine May.
It’s the second project Powell has set up at the studio, as he is also set to lead a new adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Running Man” for Paramount Pictures, TheWrap exclusively learned. Edgar Wright is set to direct. Wright and his “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” collaborator Michael Bacall will cowrite the story, and Bacall will write the script.
Powell also stars in “Hit Man,” which he cowrote with director Richard Linkater and also produced. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival and will hit Netflix in June following a theatrical release. He’ll also be seen later this summer in “Twisters,” the sequel to the 1996 film.
Puck first reported the news about “Heaven Can Wait.”
